How Did This Happen?
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In two weeks, she will be two. Two years old.
Yesterday, I took her to class. A soft separation class. A preschool prep class. The plan was to carry her the distance. But she wanted to be put down. “I want to walk myself!” she said so clearly.
And so I obliged. I placed her down on the sidewalk. I let her go. And she didn’t walk.
She ran. And I jogged after her, a mixture of mild panic and profound pride. I snapped a few shots. To have evidence. Of the ponytail. The clothes her big sister once wore. The movement. The motion. The magic.
And then she was a blur. A happy blur just within reach.
In class, I hung back and let her do her thing. She perched on a tiny chair and focused on a puzzle. Quietly, from that parental periphery, I watched her. Amazed. Awed. Aware. Aware that she is getting bigger and older by the day. That she will be my one-year-old for only two more weeks. That she will be my Baby for only a few more months.
How did this happen?
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- Are you amazed at how quickly time passes and how profoundly things change?
- Do you enjoy putting your kids in hand-me-downs?
- Do you think that snapping pictures sometimes allows us to see things differently and revere the benign blur of evolution?
- Can you believe my once-bald babe has such a fabulous ponytail?
Everyone struggles and...
Aw, what a little doll! My oldest is going to be three in a month, and I fulfill every single cliche I always swore I wouldn’t by looking at her constantly and wondering WHERE my baby went. Right now she’s sitting next to me at the table, singing to herself as she eats breakfast, so big and independent … wasn’t it just yesterday I had to carry her, a little two-month-old, with me everywhere because her colic was so bad she screamed piteously if I tried setting her down for a moment?
The moments fly, and I’m so thankful for my camera which allows me to hold them in my memory in years to come.
(Oh, and I love hand-me-downs. Seeing little sister in big sister’s clothes, seeing other people’s babies in the clothing the little one has outgrown, seeing my big girl in clothes passed down from other friends … it’s all part of that binding together process, I think!)
I’m facing the same conundrum Chez P. IEP will be 2 in 6 weeks and I’m struggling with it a bit. The hair helps, though. He’s going to be at least 4 before he needs a haircut.
Baby’s ponytail, however, is completely precious.
The ponytail is precious. I ask myself the same question -how did this happen ? My older son is 24 and my younger one is 9. I am trying to hang on to every moment. I am still amazed that my big baby is now in medical school and that two days ago on his rotation he delivered a baby. I am also amazed how my 9 year old seems so grown up and not a baby anymore. Savor the moments they fly away. Nice sweet post!
My daughter will turn 5 in January. Just the other day I was flipping through her scrapbook and pondered the same question – Where did the time go? It’s joyous and sad all at the same time.
My “baby” turned 2 in July – she’s my third (and last) girl – so it really hit me hard. No more babies for me! And the first time I saw her in pigtails… why do babies look so much older in pony/pigtails?! Thank goodness for the thousands of pictures and multiple photobooks we have collected throughout these fast-moving years – that’s all we’re left with as our “babies” leave us behind in search of Barbies and princesses and cartoons and paints.
As for hand-me-downs… I love them. To see my younger girls wearing clothes that their older sister wore is so special. It reminds me of the time when my oldest was that small and simultaneously proves how quickly the younger ones are growing. So sweet!
Oh, so sweet.
I have a niece, she must be exactly your daughter’s age, because she’ll be turning two in two weeks, too.
She demanded (!) yesterday that my sister called me and then she sang two little, complete songs over the phone.
My heart melted.
And then I thought the same thing: how did this happen?
So precious.
1) I adore her ponytail!
2) I can’t handle how fast they grow. It is so incredibly bittersweet. When my last (yet to be more than a fleeting thought, but still) baby leaves babyhood I don’t know how I will ever cope.
This was such a sweet post. Love the ponytail but love the pink sweater too! Just think her little sister who she has never met will someday wear those clothes too.
I’m not a parent but as a teacher I am always astounded (shocked and amazed, actually) at how fast babies become toddlers and toddlers become 3 and 4 year olds. I see it all the time in my everyday teaching life and it never ceases to move me. I have students in my classes who weren’t even conceived when I had their older siblings and I have students who I literally knew in utero. I think what fascinates me the most (and maybe because I’m an only child) is how different siblings are — they may look like older/younger versions of each other, they might even wear the same clothes, but I love how completely different they react to a new class and how drastically different their learning styles and personalities are.
This is what makes me realize that when I do have kids one day, I’ll need to remember to stop and appreciate EVERYTHING… What a sweet post. How exciting that you get to go through all this again with Girl #3!